2007 Dargon Writers' Summit

Visit our 2007 Summit Flickr page to see all the photos plus captions!

As you know, each year a different Dargon Project writer hosts our annual Writers' Summit in or near their hometown. Well, this year we broke with that tradition. Although longtime writer John White -- normally referred to as Dafydd Cyhoeddwr -- lives in Philadelphia, he opted to host the 2007 Summit in Las Vegas, Nevada.

At the end of March, nine of us gathered in the proverbial Sin City. We had six writers -- Dafydd, Liam Donahue, Jon Evans, Ornoth Liscomb, Jim Owens, and Rena Deutsch -- plus three "guests". They were joined by former writer Carlo Samson, who has been doing our artwork and who expressed some interest in returning as a writer, plus Liam's wife Maryellen, and Jim's wife Naomi, who also joined the group as a potential contributor as a result of her Summit experience!

As usual, we split our time between working sessions, sightseeing, and eating, with just a tiny bit of sleep. Our expeditions included touring the immense Hoover Dam, crawling around the massive canyons of the Valley of Fire, hiking up and around Mount Charleston, In smaller groups, we toured the massive casinos of the Las Vegas Strip, and the spectacular Red Rock Canyon. Food included Ethiopean and a Japanese teppanyaki "performance", as well as Vegas' native signature cuisine: the casino buffet.

Our working sessions hit a number of topics, including exploring where story ideas come from, what it means to be an aspiring writer, how to take a simple story and make it more interesting by adding plot complications, our workshop for new writers, and our partnership with Carlo's "Arcane Twilight" magazine.

Beyond that, we spent a lot of time writing and coordinating a series of stories that show many of Dargon's key people and locations. If you're new to DargonZine, these stories should help you get an overview of the city and the characters who live there. Look for them to start appearing in DargonZine issues around the end of 2007.

As usual, the Summit was a great experience. We accomplished a lot and came away energized, and got to spend time with great people and see the sights in another cool location, all thanks to Dafydd's diligent planning and gracious hosting.

At right are thumbnail versions of some of the pictures we took at the 2007 Summit. Clicking on an image on this page will bring up the full-sized picture with a detailed caption. The photos are generally a modestly-sized 30-75k each.

If you find these images interesting, check out the pictures and description of our other gatherings on our Dargon Writers' Summit page.